E-Commerce Security And Its Importance

E-Commerce Security And Its Importance

The inter-networking of computers, along with other gadgets of the contemporary era has radically transformed the way goods and services are exchanged. Financial transactions, healthcare records, shopping for goods and services and payment of bills are achieved at breakneck speed. E-commerce businesses are flourishing. Irrespective of having a brick and mortar store, click and mortar stores are having huge boosts in terms of sales and productivity.

However, with innovation comes risk. Transacting money online is a headache for many. Reports of security fails in e-commerce transactions isn’t very encouraging either. It is the ultimate responsibility of e-commerce business owners to guarantee secure online payments to their customers. Not only is security important for customers, having proper security measures in place prevents the business owner from being sued if by some misfortune your customers’ information gets compromised.

E-Commerce Attacks

Hackers and attackers can take it out on your website in different ways. Some popular ones being,

Phishing attacks

Phishing predominantly targets login pages and payment gateways. It is used to steal login credentials and credit card numbers. The user is duped into clicking links sent via emails/text messages, leading to the revelation of confidential information. Phishing is achieved by the intelligent creation of web pages similar in structure and appearance to the original versions of the authority/institution being targeted.

To protect against phishing, the 2FA method is normally followed. 2FA refers to 2 Factor Authentication. It is a dual layer method used for online payments.

Tricking the shopper

Social engineering techniques capitalize on the ability of the hacker to trick the shopper. Use safer and rarely used challenge questions to avert such attempts.

Credit card fraud

This is a wide-ranging attack mechanism. The attacker steals one’s identity, thus impersonating the user to charge purchases and divert funds.

Guessing the user’s password

This requires monitoring the shopping behavior of a person. Purpose-built tools exist for guessing the user’s password, by checking all the possible permutations and combinations.

Server root exploitations

By attacking the server itself, all of the shoppers’ data may be compromised.

Security issues exist not only for small businesses, i.e., B2C e-commerce systems but also for services which are B2B. B2B services include online banking and brokerage services, used by customers to pay credit card and cell phone bills. Buying and selling securities, transferring funds etc. are also B2B activities.

Surveys speak!

According to PWC’s Global State of Internet Security Survey 2018 in the US, 29% internet users reported security incidents having caused loss or damage of their internal records. 35% customer records were compromised in 2017. This proportion decreased a touch, falling to 32% in 2016.

According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey of the UK released in April 2017, approximately 58% of businesses have sought guidance regarding cybersecurity to alleviate threats facing their online portals in 2016.

How do I tackle these security concerns?

Make your website foolproof using the measures outlined here.

Educate the consumer

It involves urging your consumers to use hard-to-guess passwords to keep them from being guessed by outside sources and from being subsequently hacked. You can also advocate changing passwords on a regular basis.

Use a personal firewall

A firewall is a security system used while connecting personal computers to open networks. It establishes a barrier between a trusted internal network and a distrustful external network, namely the internet.

Use SSL certificate

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a protocol used to establish encryption for data being transferred between a user’s browser and the server. This encryption ensures that sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and login credentials can’t be leaked while in transit between web browser and web server before it reaches the host/target person.

Re-validate the user

Ask the user for login password or profile password before carrying out transactions. This prevents the possibility of hackers using packet sniffing to complete the transaction.

Carry out PCI scans

A PCI (Payment Card Industry) scan solution helps you adhere to PCI DSS (Data Security Standards) requirements. Comodo Hackerguardian, provided by Comodo Security Solutions Inc. offers this solution. It is a vulnerability scanning solution used to achieve PCI scan compliance for e-commerce businesses and services. Comodo has a whole range of innovative technology used to authenticate, validate and secure information. It is also used to combat malware threats and cyber attacks. It also provides a whole range of SSL certificates from standard certificate PositiveSSL to Extended Validation certificate Comodo EV SSL.

Build and improve customer trust

The world of e-commerce and m-commerce businesses is growing exponentially. If you can gain the trust of your customers as you establish your brand, you will grow quickly. Customers usually worry about submitting their financial information online. It is important to make sure that they feel they’re in safe hands.

Analysis of online customer shopping behavior says that they generally look for trust badges while shopping online because they have concern for their data security. So to enable it on websites provide the additional benefit of improving your website conversion rate.

You should also be transparent regarding the policies of your website if you are to gain the trust of the customer. Notify them about the usage of cookies and other tracking elements in use.